A Baxter's Redemption Read online

  “How do women manage?” she asked herself aloud, and her fingers fluttered up to the scars along her left cheek.

  She’d never felt more powerless in her life.

  * * *

  JAMES DROPPED HIS briefcase on his desk and pulled off his suit jacket. Jackson, Hobbs and Hunter was a small law firm, consisting of James, Ted Jackson, who made a habit of doing far too much pro bono work, and a transplanted lawyer from another town west of Haggerston named Eugene Hobbs. Eugene was tall, gangly and looked like a fourteen-year-old, but his thirty-five-year-old brain was a steel trap.

  The office building was on the corner of Preston Street and Main, a three-story building that overlooked Saint Mary’s Catholic Church’s parking lot on one side and a string of little shops along Main Street on the other. James enjoyed the view of the parking lot, as strange as that seemed to his law partners. He watched kids learn how to ride their bikes in that parking lot, people come and go from the church, teenagers get their first driving lessons with white-knuckled parents. Looking over that parking lot helped him to think and put his mind onto different paths. This afternoon, the church parking lot was empty, except for one small hatchback car that belonged to the priest. It wasn’t helpful.

  James turned on his computer and checked his email. A smile twitched at the corners of his lips when he saw a forward from his younger sister, Jenny. She was always sending him little jokes—this one about driving in England. He was about to reply when Eugene stuck his head around the door.

  “Hey, you’re back,” the gangly man said. “Did you get Ted’s email about billable hours?”

  “Yeah, I got it.”

  Eugene came into the office and looked out the wide window at the parking lot. “So how’ve you been? I haven’t seen much of you the last few days.”

  “I’ve been busy with the Baxters,” James replied.

  “They keep you hopping.”

  “It’s called a retainer,” James quipped.

  “I heard that Mr. Baxter’s daughter is back in town.”

  James shrugged, unwilling to say too much. “Yeah, she’s back.”

  “I’ve seen the pictures of her during her beauty queen days, but I haven’t seen her in person yet. Are the scars as bad as they say?”

  James considered for a moment, thinking back to Isabel and the white lines that tugged at the left side of her face. But it wasn’t just the scars that had altered Isabel—there was something else that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, but she’d changed. “Yes,” he admitted. “She looks a lot different.”

  “The gossip has been fierce,” Eugene said. “It doesn’t seem like people around town liked her much.”

  James shrugged noncommittally. He had his own grudge with the Baxter beauty, not that it mattered. Life went on, and people who held on to their anger only punished themselves. According to Gandhi, at least.

  “So what was the deal with her?” Eugene pressed.

  “Oh, just that she was gorgeous and wealthy, and relied on her looks a lot.”

  “I know the feeling. I rely on mine, too.”

  “It’s because you look like Opie,” James said with a laugh. “Everyone opens up to you.”

  “That’s what I mean.” Eugene’s face broke open into a wolfish grin. “It works for me.”

  James laughed. Eugene wasn’t as young, or as simple, as he looked. At thirty-five, he still looked like a teen, a cowlick making the hair at the back of his head stand up straight, no matter how much product he applied to flatten it. The tiny lines forming around his eyes were incongruous.

  “But you liked her?” Eugene asked.

  James barked out a bitter laugh. “I can’t say that any of us liked her much. She used people—men, mostly. She knew how to get her way. But I’m not willing to carry a grudge from high school. If you saw her—what the accident did to her—you’d see what I mean. That’s punishment enough.”

  Eugene’s phone blipped, and he pulled it out of his pocket, raised a finger and picked up the call. “Eugene Hobbs here.” He listened for a moment, then covered the mouthpiece and said to James, “Talk later, okay?”

  James gave a thumbs-up, and Eugene headed back out into the hallway, leaving James in quiet. Isabel had left her mark all over this town—from being Miss Haggers ton three years running to breaking hearts. And though she hadn’t done much to James himself, she’d broken his cousin’s spirit, just before he left for war.

  His office phone rang, and James answered on the second ring.

  “James Hunter,” he intoned.

  “Mr. Hunter? This is Bob over at Family Cheese.”

  James closed his eyes and suppressed a sigh. What was wrong now?

  “What can I do for you, Bob?”

  “I’m afraid we have to let Jenny go.”

  “You’re firing her?” James clarified, his stomach sinking. This wasn’t exactly a surprise—he’d dealt with this before. “What happened?”

  “I’m sorry. We did our best, but she just lost it on a customer. Screaming, yelling. It isn’t working out. Can you come pick her up?”

  Jenny had Down syndrome, and he’d become her legal guardian after their mother’s death in a car crash three years earlier. It had been hard enough to find a job again after the last time she’d “lost it on a customer” at a local diner. There was more to the story, of course. There always was, but no one wanted to hear it.

  “Why did she get upset?” James asked.

  “No reason that I could see,” Bob replied. “Look, I’ve got customers, so I’ve got to go. But you’ll need to come pick her up. She’s waiting outside on the bench.”

  “I’ll be there in five minutes,” he replied. “Thanks, Bob.”

  Hanging up the phone, he pushed himself to his feet. Jenny was his only sibling, and he’d always been protective of her. In school, she’d never been picked on because everyone knew that if they messed with Jenny, they were taking on Jim Hunter, too. With Jenny’s big blue eyes and wide, laughing mouth, it was hard to imagine her getting angry, but she’d been having trouble keeping a job for the past year. He clicked his computer into sleep mode and rose to his feet. His jaw was tense, his gaze drilling into the wall ahead of him.

  “Oh, James—” Eugene poked his head back into James’s office, then froze. “Okay. Sorry. Not a good time.”

  James didn’t even bother reassuring his colleague. Right now, he had something else to do, and that old protective instinct was kicking in. No matter how many years slipped by, his role remained the same—Jenny’s big brother. He’d be the brick wall between her and an unkind world.

  CHAPTER THREE

  ISABEL TURNED IN a circle, taking in the large kitchen. It was more than she needed, but a full, professional bakery was hard to resist. For the last couple of years, she’d been mulling over a new idea for a small business—a chocolate shop. She’d call it Baxter’s Chocolates, and her father would be enraged at her use of the family name for another one of her business schemes, but it was her name, too. He wasn’t the only one with claim to it.

  Gleaming ovens, a ceramic stove top with a huge stainless steel hood hovering above it, vast counter space and everything tiled in brilliant white. A double refrigerator loomed next to the owner, Roger Varga, who stood near the door, arms crossed over his chest as she poked through cupboards and into corners.

  “What happened to the business that used to be here?” Isabel asked, glancing over her shoulder.

  Roger stroked his fingers over a graying mustache. “Times are tough. They weren’t able to make the money they thought they could.”

  She nodded, hiding the worry that built up inside her. That was her fear, too, that her chocolate business wouldn’t take off and she’d be left with another failed business on her hands. Of course, her father could always b
ail her out—he always had in the past—but this time, it was a matter of pride. This time, she wanted to make it on her own.

  “I think the lease is a little high,” she said, angling her steps back over to where he stood. “It doesn’t do you any good to lease the place out for three months, then have it stand empty for another eight if I go under, does it?”

  He paused, seemed to be considering her words. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Half of the asking price.”

  “I can’t do that.” He shook his head. “I’d rather have it stand empty. But I could go down to this—” He jotted a number on the corner of the lease papers.

  Isabel considered for a moment. The number was fair, but she had a feeling she could get him lower. She shot him a smile, and only after she pulled the smile-brilliantly-at-your-rival routine, did she remember that she no longer had that card in her deck. She wasn’t going to dazzle him, and she sucked in a deep breath, covering her momentary discomfort by looking down. Could she even negotiate without her go-to feminine wiles?

  Do I have a choice?

  “How about this—” She jotted another number below his. “And I’ll make you something amazing for your next anniversary with your wife.”

  “How amazing?” A smile twitched at the corners of his lips.

  “Trust me. I know what impresses a woman. It will be chocolate, and it will melt her heart. Just be sure to tell everyone who made it.”

  He laughed and shook his head and scratched the new number into the lease. “You drive a hard bargain, Ms. Baxter, but you have yourself a deal. Care to sign now?”

  “Not yet,” she said with a shake of her head. “I just need to have my lawyer look over the fine print, and then I’ll drop it by your office.”

  “Fair enough.” He shook her hand, and they walked together through the echoing shop and out the front door. The bell tinkled overhead, and Isabel glanced up at it. This was it—she could feel it in her bones—her shop. She’d mentioned this chocolate shop idea to her father before the accident and he’d liked the idea—in New York, at least. He’d suggested that it might keep her entertained until she got married and started having babies. That had been insulting, but he’d paid for her trips to France for chocolate-making classes. It had been a victory, of sorts. His one repeated warning had been, “But you don’t seem to have the sixth sense, Izzy. Entrepreneurs need to have that tingle that tells them where the money is, and you haven’t really got that...”

  Was he right? Was this a dumb idea, or was her instinct better than either of them imagined? Well, this wasn’t his business. He bought and sold land with Baxter Land Holdings, but she wanted something different—Baxter’s Chocolates. Truffles, bars, nuggets and cream-centered confections. She’d perfected the art in her own kitchen—polishing up her skills on those vacations to Paris. Her friends thought she’d gone to France to shop, and she had done a fair bit of that, too, but her main reason had been for the private chocolatier classes she took from the best in the world. And after all that personal research and now her trust fund money, the time was ripe.

  “Thanks so much,” Isabel said, shaking Roger’s hand firmly. “I’ll be in touch.”

  This side street was quiet this time of day. A block away, Main Street was bedecked with hanging planters of fragrant hydrangeas, but Nicholson Avenue was bare. It ran from Main with some businesses on either side of the street—a little bistro across from the closed bakery—and then melted into a residential area of tiny houses from the fifties. Isabel sucked in a breath of fresh air and smiled to herself. This felt right. It was coming together, and after all the changes to her family, after her accident, she needed this.

  “Is that you, Isabel?”

  Isabel blinked and turned to see Britney teetering across the street toward her, one hand on her belly, the other outstretched to stop a pickup truck as she made a great show of pretending to run across the road, taking tiny steps and laughing at herself. Isabel smiled wanly. Had she ever acted like that? She wasn’t sure she’d like the honest answer.

  Roger gave a final wave and headed off in the other direction, leaving Isabel alone on the sidewalk, waiting for Britney to make it across. When Britney stepped up onto the curb, she laughed and shook her head.

  “I just can’t run like I used to! My goodness. Babies are heavier than you think.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and looked around, wide-eyed. “Oh, my...are you doing what I think you’re doing?”

  “That depends,” Isabel replied drily. “What do you think I’m up to?”

  “Something...” She waved her hands in the air as if she were drying a manicure. “I don’t know—something expensive.”

  Isabel shrugged. “Does it matter?”

  “Of course it matters,” she replied. “That’s why we have Jimmy.”

  Isabel raised a brow. “You mean James Hunter?”

  “I call him Jimmy. It just suits him. He’s such a teddy bear.”

  Isabel knew that Britney’s gushing shouldn’t bother her, but on some level it did. “Jimmy” wasn’t a teddy bear, he was a lawyer, and she had the feeling that he’d rather have respect than diminutive nicknames. Or was that just her right now?

  “So what are you up to?” Isabel asked, changing the subject.

  “Oh, just out for some brunch. Eating for two!” She hunched her shoulders and gave a girlish giggle, rubbing a hand over her belly. “I’m just starving these days. Do you want to go find something to nibble?”

  “No thanks.” She attempted to infuse some warmth into her tone, but she had a feeling she failed when she saw Britney’s face. “I’m not hungry.”

  “So...” Britney leaned to the side to look around Isabel. “What are you doing here? Didn’t this used to be Gordie’s Bakery? I don’t think it lasted long.”

  Gordie. Georgie. Jimmy. Did any man who Britney came across have a full name?

  She doubted it would even matter if she told Britney about her plans. The money was hers, after all. It was snuggly stashed away in her very own bank account, and nothing Britney or her father said would change anything.

  “I’m looking into leasing a storefront,” she replied.

  “What for?” Britney’s eyes widened again, but Isabel caught the slight twitch at the corners of her mouth. Britney wasn’t as childish as she put on.

  “I’m opening my own business. A chocolate shop.”

  “Oh...” Britney squinted. “Where do you buy the chocolate?”

  “I make it.”

  “Oh!” She pulled her hand through her hair and pursed her lips—Isabel was willing to bet that she’d just caught sight of her own reflection somewhere. “Well, Georgie says—” She blushed and shrugged apologetically. “Your dad says that you’re better off talking this stuff over with Jimmy. He’s good with these things, and we girls don’t even know where to start, you know?”

  Isabel cocked her head to one side, regarding her young stepmother. There had been a time when Isabel had used the same tactics. Pretty girls got their way, but pretty and intelligent girls were too intimidating and put men off. She’d learned quickly how to “dumb it down” in order to make people do what she needed, but seeing this same manipulation in Britney was mildly annoying.

  “I have a degree in business,” she replied coolly. “I’m pretty sure I know where to begin.”

  “Just saying.” Britney shrugged. She pulled a necklace out from under her blouse and ran it idly through her fingers. Isabel’s gaze locked onto the pendant—a princess-cut yellow diamond, surrounded by white diamonds nestled in white gold. Isabel knew this necklace well—it had been her mother’s.

  “Where did you get that?” she demanded.

  “This?” Britney shrugged. “Your dad gave it to me. Isn’t it pretty? I love it.”

  Isabel shot Britney a tight
smile. “I see.”

  It looked like a lot of things were changing around here, and Isabel didn’t have to like it.

  “Well, anyway, I’m meeting up with Carmella, so I’d better go.” The younger woman beamed at Isabel once more. “Baby’s hungry!”

  With a flutter of her fingers, Britney pranced away in her two-inch heels, leaving Isabel on the curb with a white-hot feeling searing through her middle. She didn’t use the word hate lightly, but right now, she truly hated Britney Baxter.

  Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she fired off a text to James Hunter: I need your advice on a lease contract. Can we meet?

  She dropped the phone back into her purse. If there was one thing her father had taught her, it was that feelings might get hurt, but business wasn’t about feelings. It was about money, and it was about building something bigger than yourself.

  And right now, she’d stick to business. Feelings were a little too volatile to be trusted.

  Britney met a woman on the opposite side of the street who paused, shaded her eyes and peered in Isabel’s direction. Isabel knew her well—Carmella, a high school friend. She’d been running into old acquaintances a lot the last few days, and their first reactions had never been very warm. There had been some sympathy over her scars that barely concealed their satisfaction at seeing her brought down a peg or two. Some didn’t bother saying anything—just stared. And a couple of old classmates had crossed the street to avoid her, which made their feelings about her pretty clear. So far, she hadn’t come across people from the wealthier circles she’d used to move in, and they were the ones who intimidated her the most right now.